Hispanics No More Conservative Than Anyone Else

By Stephanie Czekalinski

It’s true. Hispanics generally hold conservative views on abortion. But the results of a survey released earlier this month by the Pew Hispanic Center show that Hispanics shouldn’t be typecast as socially conservative.

In fact, Hispanics are no more likely than members of other groups to describe themselves as conservative. Some 32 percent of Hispanics self-identify as conservative compared to 34 percent of all U.S. adults.

Latinos also are more likely than the general population to describe their views as liberal. Just more than 20 percent of the general population says this - compared to 30 percent of Hispanics surveyed in December.

Foreign-born Hispanics are more likely to consider their political views conservative than their native-born cohort - 35 percent versus 28 percent. Those born in the United States are more likely than immigrants to describe their views as “very liberal” or “liberal” - 34 percent to 27 percent.

In terms of specific issues such as abortion, the survey shows Hispanics hold more conservative views than the overall U.S. population. More than half of all Hispanics surveyed said that abortion should be illegal in all or most cases, a position shared by only 41 percent of the general population.

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But the survey found that nearly 60 percent of Hispanics thought that homosexuality should be accepted rather than discouraged. And a great majority of Latinos (87 percent) are comfortable with their children marrying someone of a different heritage.

A smaller percentage was comfortable with their children marrying someone of a different religion - 63 percent of Latinos said they find that acceptable.